Hotel is a stone throw away from the Santa Monica Pier and Third Street Promenade. We chose this hotel to unwind after our hectic NY, Disneyland trips. If you love the beach & ocean or just wanna chill out, this is the ideal place to be.
Lobby is quite small but there is a PC for free internet use. Room internet connection (which is free) was intermittent. Our room had a partial view of the Pacific Ocean (which we paid for) & was very clean & homey. Everything abt the room was perfect minus the missing microwave.

They get a lot of things right, most things in fact.

If I'm being critical (and I am) the thing about this hotel, it seems like it was an older property that's had an extensive renovation which
is great but there are a few places where they cut some corners and personally I noticed it. That said these things are small and most people probably would not notice.

The hotel has a pool, a little work out area, a bar (with a flat screen), and a restaurant. The staff is very accommodating, willing to do pretty much whatever you need and that goes a long way in my book.

Our room was on the freeway side (south) and the hotel is right next to the 10. I noticed in some other reviews there were complaints about
the traffic noise, but in my opinion it wasn't bad for an urban setting. Our room did not have black out curtains and I noticed this because I had friends staying across the hall and their room had them.

The rooms are small, but brightly decorated, very cheerful. One thing that I appreciated, they had a pillow menu, you could select from 3 different types of pillows, I liked that, I hate foam pillows. The room was clean and well prepped.

Another thing I read on this site was to park across the street and avoid parking at the hotel which is $23 or $24 dollars per night. We did, and although we were told by the parking attendant that the garage closed at 3 a.m. no one at the garage, or the hotel could tell us what happened if we didn't move our cars by then. We left them at it was fine so do what you're comfortable with.

In closing, this is a hotel where in many parts of the country a room would probably run $59 - $79 dollars a night, we paid $209 and with all the add-on fees and taxes were out the door for $249.

Why the discrepancy ? Three things: Location, location, location. It could be argued this hotel in in the heart of Santa Monica, half a block from the pier, the beach, Lobster restaurant, a block from Chez Jay, etc. Given all that it actually represents a value for the area, there are lots of other hotels nearby who are more than happy to charge you a lot more.

It's Southern Cal and it's a half a block from the beach, you're gonna
pay for that.

We have stayed at the Holiday Inn at the Santa Monica Pier twice now. The reasons we returned: The hotel is clean, the staff is great, the location is unbeatable, our king room with fold-out couch was very large and comfortable, and the prices reasonable (for that area, anyway).

The reason we have considered staying elsewhere: It is a busy and noisy location. The rooms on the freeway side are much too loud. I haven't stayed on the street side, so I don't know whether they are better or worse. The pool area is crummy because it is literally overlooking a freeway. The parking is horrible, especially at $23 a day.

So, the pluses and minuses even out in my view, hence the three-star rating. If you care more about location than noise, check it out. If you need silence to sleep or a good pool area, this isn't the place for you.

we stayed here for 3 nights with 4 kids to recover from the flight before travelling around California. Great location...1 minute from the Pier and beach. 5 minutes walk from 3rd Street Prom with all the great shopping available there! The kids went in the Pool which was great but not very pretty!! Access through the car park and a fence away from the freeway!! We had rooms on the front which I believe are better because they are quieter. We felt safe and had all the facilities we needed. There is a breakfast room and a small bar on the ground floor.